Murray returns after solid Jarry stint

LAS VEGAS — Matt Murray returned from a sixgame absence when the Penguins took on the Vegas Golden Knights Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.

It cemented the goaltending matchup that everyone wanted — the Penguins’ currentfranchise netminder versus their previous one, Marc-Andre Fleury — but it also might have some ramifications.

Remember, when Murray was injured against the Philadelphia Flyers Nov. 27, we didn’t know a ton about his backup, Tristan Jarry. It’s a different situation now,

In seven appearances since Murray went down, Jarry went 4-2-0 with a .920 save percentage and one shutout. Sure, he is not going to unseat Murray as the Penguins’ go-to guy, but whether the Penguins will get more liberal with their starter-backup split in goal is fair to wonder about after how well Jarry played.

While Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was noncommittal after the morning skate Thursday, general manager Jim Rutherford hinted that Jarry might play more than a traditional backup.

“Based on what I’ve seen, I would suspect that the coaches would feel more comfortable in using Tristan more,” Rutherford told the Post-Gazette. “You take the good out of the bad when somebody gets hurt. Tristan played well. He won some games for us

“And it would give Matt some time to get a little break.”

Rutherford has maintained since the summer that one of the things he thinks has served the Penguins well in winning backto-back Stanley Cups was that they essentially had a fresh goaltender each time.

It’s not that Murray is injury prone — there’s nothing he could have done to avoid having Jakub Voracek crash into him — but playing Jarry more could afford Murray additional rest and lessen the risk of injury.

But the call belongs to Sullivan, with input from his staff and not Rutherford, at least as long as Murray and the Penguins are winning at a normal clip.

Sullivan said Murray’s return mixed with what Jarry has done will not make him rethink how he deploys his goaltenders.

The only thing it does, really, is reinforce what he already knew: That both Murray and Jarry are very good and capable of winning NHL games.

“When Matt got hurt, it was a great opportunity for Tristan to play a bunch of games in a row, to get some experience under his belt, to have to play night-in and night-out and overcome some of the challenges that the league presents,” Sullivan said.

“I think [Jarry] should have a certain level of confidence having gone through that now, having a number of games under his belt, having success in some of them and having to respond to others when maybe he thought he wasn’t quite at his best. He’s no different in that regard than any young player.

“I think our coaching staff has a lot of faith in the tandem that we have. I think we have two really strong goaltenders.”

It’s a good time to get Murray back. After Vegas, the Penguins must face the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche on this trip.

But Murray has had a wacky season: He’s 11-7-1 with a 2.95 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage.

Those numbers aren’t good, but you can’t really take stock of his 21 games and say that he’s struggled more than a couple of times.

Murray entered the game and played in front of a disinterested team during a 10-1 loss in Chicago Oct. 5. He started and was victimized by the same sort of effort in front of him Oct. 29 at Winnipeg, which turned into another lopsided loss.

For fun, let’s say the Penguins started the season with a capable backup who remained in the game the entire time against the Blackhawks, then was good enough to play against the Jets — meaning Murray sat both of those out.

That would bump Murray’s save percentage up to .917 and drop his goalsagainst average to 2.60.

It’s not as sexy as .923 and 2.41, which Murray threw up in 2016-17, but it’s perfectly understandable given some of the team’s other issues.

“I think there have been a few games that have skewed our numbers across the board, Matt’s included,” Sullivan said. “When you look at them a little more closely, game-to-game, I think it tells a different story.

“I think he’s had a consistent game for us for the majority of the year.

“He’s making the timely save for us. He’s been pretty solid.”

After the road trip, the Penguins have a home game against Anaheim sandwiched between a pair of Columbus matchups before departing for another threecity trip to Carolina, Detroit and Philadelphia. No backto-backs in the bunch.

Murray, obviously, is an elite goaltender, but does Sullivan look to pull the reins back on him a bit, with an eye toward the spring? Could be tough given the Penguins’ current situation, but Jarry also needs to play.

Line it up

Josh Archibald, Tom Kuhnhackl and Kevin Czuczman were scratched against the Golden Knights.

Patric Hornqvist began the game on the left side with Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel, while Bryan Rust was moved down to the fourth linewith Carter Rowney and Ryan Reaves.

Sullivan switched up his defense pairings, deploying Olli Maatta with Chad Ruhwedel and Matt Hunwick with Ian Cole.